Fountain brush



w. w. LAITNEIR 2,907,060

FOUNTAIN BRUSH Filed Nov. 5, 1956 Oct. 6, 1959 QVP";

WALTER w. LAITNER BY WW ATTO R N EYS r 36 48 IN VEN TOR.

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FOUNTAIN BRUSH This invention relates generally to brush assemblies and refers more particularly to an improved fountain type brush assembly.

The brush forming the subject matter of this invention comprises a head having the usual brush elements or bristles set into the head and projecting outwardly therefrom, a fluid chamber for water or the like within the head, and fluid passages in the head from the chamber to the bristles to provide fluid to assist the bristles inthe brushing action.

One object of this invention is to provide a fountain brush having one or more rotary members carried by the head and provided with bristles, the rotary members being rotatable to improve the action of the brush.

. Still another object of the invention is to provide a brush having one or more rotary members as described in the preceding paragraph, the head being formed. with suitable channels for directing water under pressure in the chamber to the rotary members to produce the desired rotation of the latter.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a brush assembly having a chamber therein and having a base at the bottom partly defining the chamber, rotary members located in recesses in the underside of the base and supported for rotation by the base, the base being formed with fluid channels leading from the chamber to the recesses to direct fluid under pressure in the chamber against vane parts on the rotary members to rotate the latter. In this connection, provision is made for discharging the fluid from the chamber very close to the rotary member so that the rotation of the latter will cause the water to spread out amongst adjacent bristles.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of a fountain brush embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 on Fig. 1.

' Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary bottom view.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the fountain brush comprises a head 9 having a base 10 and a cap 12. A fluid supply conduit 14 is connected to the head and is adapted to be connected to a suitable source of fluid supply such as a water tap. The base may be formed of any suitable material such as hard rubber or plastic for example. In any case, the base 10 has the usual bristles 16 set into sockets 17 in accordance with conventional practice, and is formed with a plurality of spaced fluid passages 18 therethrough. The bristles 16 are of uniform length.

The cap 12 is preferably of one piece construction and States Patent 0".

r6 ce I A is molded or otherwise formed of'rubber or some material having characteristics similar to rubber. The cap has a top wall 20, a boss 22 projecting upwardly from the 22 slopes downwardly from the rear end 26 to the plane 1 of the top wall at the front of the cap and is hollow for a greater portion of its length to provide a downwardly opening recess 28 in the top wall 20. The end 26 of the boss is solid and is formed with an opening or passage 30 extending from the recess 28 to the outer side of the cap. The conduit 14 is secured in passage 30 in any suitable manner.

The cap 12 is shaped to fit over the base 10 in a manner such that the flange 24 surrounds the side wall of the base 10, and the top wall 20 cooperates with the top of the base to form a chamber 32. An annular seat 34 is formed in the cap in a position to engage the top wall of the base 10 and to act as a stop to limit'the extent of insertion of the base into the cap. An annular lip 36 extends inwardly from the bottom or free edge of the flange 24 and engages the underside of the base 10. This lip coacts with the seat 34 in holding the base against accidental displacement from the cap 12. It will further be noted that the flange 24 yieldably grips the side of the base 10 throughout its circumference and as a result not only assists in holding the base in place but in addition also provides a fluid seal continuously around the base. The flange 24 however is sufficiently resilient to enable readily flexing it outwardly the distance required to disengage the lip 36 from the underside of the base. Thus the base 10 may be quickly removed from the cap when desired.

The cap is provided with the generally aligned laterally extending reinforcing webs 38 which are integral with the top wall and flange of the cap and extend into the chamber 32. The cap is also formed with the longitudinally extending webs 40 and the webs 42 which extend generally longitudinally but which diverge from front to rear. The webs 4t and 42 are formed integrally with the top wall and flange the cap, and the webs 40 integrally interpassages 50. A shaft 52 is firmly secured in each passage or bore 50 and extends upwardly therefrom and is loosely received in the bores 54 in the enlarged portion 46 of the cap. Any suitable means may be provided for securing the shafts within the passages 50, and in the present instance, the shafts are formed with longitudinal serrations and have a friction fit within the passages.

The upper ends of the shafts project beyond the enlargement 46 and into the chamber 32, and a retaining ring 56 is secured in position on the upper end of each shaft.

A washer 58 encircles the upper exposed end of each shaft beneath the retaining ring, the washer having an internal diameter slightly less than the outside diameter of the retaining ring to prevent the shaft from dropping V out of assembled relation with the brush. Suitable brushing elements or bristles are set into sockets 59 in the underside of the rotary members and project beneath the base a distance somewhat less than the length of the Patented Oct. 6, 1959-" bristles projecting from the base. The bottoms of bristles 59 are indicated at 61 in Fig. 2. Thus the stationary bristles 16 of the base support most of the brushing pressure and while the rotating bristles contact the surface being cleaned when the brush is pressed against the surface sufliciently to flex bristles 16, the pressure on the rotating bristles is not suflieient to prevent their rotation, as described below. It will be noted that the enlargement 46 is formed with integral bosses 60 surrounding shafts 52 to provide additional support for the latter.

The enlargement 46 is formed with a plurality of water channels or passages s2 which extend in a horizontal plane from the chamber 32 to the recesses 44. In the present instance, three such channels are associated with each recess spaced in a circular arrangement. However, it will beappreciated that more or fewer such channels may be employed if desired. Each rotary member is formed with toothlike vane parts 64 which are arranged in circumferentially spaced relation about each rotary member at the upper end thereof. The vane parts 64 have surfaces 66 extending generally radially. The Water channels 62 are arranged to direct water from the chamber 32 into the recesses 44 in the region of the vane parts 64 and at an angle of approximately ninety degrees to the surfaces 66 to rotate the rotary members in opposite directions.

It will be apparent that when the conduit 14 is connected to a suitable source of fluid under pressure, such as a water tap, water under pressure in the chamber 32 will be injected into the recesses 44 with a considerable velocity sufficient to impart a rapid spinning motion to the rotary members. The water thus entering the recesses 44 will pass downwardly along the rotating bristles through the annular space between the rotary members and the recesses. In this connection, it should be noted that the diameter of the recesses is suificiently greater than that of the rotary members to provide a relatively unrestricted flow of water. The rotation of the bristles on he rotary members will have the eflect not only of improving the mechanical brushing action but also of hurling the water running down from the recesses 44 laterally outwardly to provide for a more even distribution of water overall of the bristles carried by the brush. The cooperation between the two closely spaced counterrotating brushes amplifies the distribution of the water over that which might be produced by a single rotary brush member and over that which might be produced by two widely spaced rotary brush members. The swirling action of the water thus induced has a bubbling or aerating action on the water to increase its dirt penetration. Also, the action of the rotary brushes in hurling the water laterally outwardly has a washing action on the bristles keeping them free of dirt accumulation. Since the stationary bristles carried by the base completely surround the rotating bristles, on all sides, there will be no objectionable spray of water around the sides of the brush. In this connection, Fig. 5 shows how the bristle sockets of the base surround those of the rotary members. The bristles have been removed for clarity. Fig. 5 shows only a quadrant of the brush head which is symmetrical. There are no stationary bristles 16 between the rotary brushes so as not to interfere with their cooperation in producing a swirling of the water (see Fig. 5). Water will of course also be emitted from the brush through passages 18.

What I claim as my invention is:

1-. A brush assembly comprising a head having a chamber therewithin and having a base at the bottom partly defining said chamber, said base having an enlargement on the upper side projecting into said chamber and having closely spaced recesses in the underside extending into said enlargement, rotary members respectively located in said recesses and supported for rotation by said base, said rotary members having bristles on the underside projecting beneath said base, said head having a fluid passage communicating with said chamber, a fluid supply conduit secured to said head and communicating with said fluid passage to deliver fluid under pressure to said chamber, said rotary members having vane parts arranged circumferentially about the respective axes of rotation of said rotary members, said enlargement being formed with fluid channels leading from said chamber to said respective recesses to direct fluid from said chamber against said vane parts of said rotary members to rotate the latter in directions opposite to one another, said base having fluid passages therethrough for the discharge of fluid from said chamber, said base having bristles projecting therefrom adjacent to the bristles of said rotary members and completely surrounding and projecting beneath the latter bristles, said base being devoid of bristles in the space between said rotary members, said recesses being of greater diameter than said rotary members to permit the discharge of fluid entering said recesses through said fluid channels along the sides of said rotary members and along the bristles carried thereby, the bristles of said oppositely rotating rotary members cooperating to produce a swirling action on the fluid particularly in the space between said rotary members, thereby improving fluid distribution throughout all of the bristles providing an aerating effect on the fluid to increase the dirt penetration thereof and producing a washing action on all of the bristles to keep them free from dirt accumulation.

2. A brush assembly comprising a head having a chamber therein and having a base at the bottom partly defining said chamber, said base having closely spaced recesses in the underside, rotary members respectively located in said recesses and supported for rotation by said base, said rotary members having bristles on the underside projecting eneath said base, said head having a fluid passage communicating with said chamber and adapted to be connected to a fluid suply conduit, said rotary members having vane parts arranged circumferentially about the respective axes of rotation of said rotary members, said base being formed with fluid channels leading from said chamber to said respective recesses to direct fluid from said chamber against said vane parts of said rotary members to rotate the latter in directions opposite to one another, said base having bristles projecting therefrom adjacent to the bristles of said rotary members and completely surrounding and projecting beneath the latter bristles, said base being devoid of bristles in the space between said rotary members,

- said recesses being of greater diameter than said rotary recesses through said fluid channels along the sides of said rotary members and along the bristles carried thereby, the bristles of said oppositely rotating rotary members cooperating to produce a swirling action on the fluid particularly in the space between said rotary members, thereby improving the fluid distribution throughout all of the bristles providing an aerating effect on the fluid to increase the dirt penetration thereof and producing a Washing action on all of the bristles to keep them free from dirt accumulation.

3. A brush assembly comprising a head having a chamber therein and having a base at the bottom partly de fining said chamber, said base having closely spaced recesses in the underside, rotary members respectively located in said recesses and supported for rotation by said base, said rotary members having bristles on the underside projecting beneath said base, said head having a fluid passage communicating with said chamber and adapted to be connected to a fluid supply conduit, said rotary members having vane parts arranged circumferenti'ally about the respective axes of rotation of said rotary members, said base being formed with fluid chan? nels leading from said chamber to said respective recesses to direct fluid from said chamber against said vane parts of said rotary members to rotate the latter, said base having bristles projecting therefrom adjacent to the bristles of said rotary members and completely surrounding and projecting beneath the latter bristles, said recesses being of greater diameter than said rotary members to permit the discharge of fluid entering said recesses through said fluid channels along the sides of said rotary members and along the bristles carried thereby, the bristles of said rotary members cooperating to produce a swirling action on the fluid, thereby improving the fluid distribution throughout all of the bristles providing an aerating effect on the fluid to increase the dirt penetration thereof and producing a washing action on all of the bristles to keep them free from dirt accumulation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lawler Dec. 28, 1909 Masser Apr. 19, 1921 Burnett Dec. 25, 1928 De Nagy May 14, 1935 Rayburn Dec. 20, 1949 Prucha July 6, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Dec. 1, 1952 

